According to Forbes, the British entrepreneur and chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC, Daniel Levy's net worth is $1.3 billion.
He is currently one of the richest businessmen in the UK.
Levy's Upbringing
Daniel Philip Levy was born on the 8th of February 1962 in Essex to Jewish parents.
His father owned a discount clothing retail business called Mister Byrite, which was later rebranded as Blue Inc. in the 1990s.
The company was founded by Daniel's grandfather Abraham Levy in 1912 under the name A Levy & Sons before he passed over control to his son Barry who subsequently passed it over to his sons Jonathan, Robert and Daniel.
Due to his father’s business background, Daniel grew up exposed to the business world throughout his childhood.
He was also a huge football fan from a young age, attending his first match at White Hart Lane stadium during the 1960s, which cemented his interest in Tottenham Hotspur FC for life.
At this time Tottenham were a huge force in English football and won the coveted league title in 1960.
However, it remains the last time they won the league title.
Top Notch Education
Given that his Dad managed a portfolio of properties within the family business, Daniel chose to study Economics and Land Economy at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge with a view to helping out his family after he had completed his studies.
He graduated with First Class Honours in 1985.
During the 1980s, Mister Byrite was run by Daniel and his two brothers, Jonathan and Robert.
He also worked in property development as well as some other business ventures.
ENIC
Levy got involved in ENIC International Ltd, (formerly English National Investment Company), which is a British investment trust owned by Joe Lewis, a British businessman and investor with a net worth of over $5 billion.
It was through ENIC that Levy began his business interests in football.
In 1995, Levy was made the managing director of ENIC. In terms of ownership, he and his family own 29.4% of the share capital of ENIC while the remaining 70.6% is owned by Joe Lewis.
In the 1990s, Levy became director of Rangers, the Scottish football club as ENIC had a significant stake in the club.
As well as Rangers, ENIC also had stakes in other football clubs across Europe including Vicenza, FC Basel, Slavia Prague, and AEK Athens.
However, ENIC wasn’t just about football.
The company also had stakes in Autonomy, a Cambridge software company and Warner Bros Restaurants.
Buying Tottenham Hotspurs
Levy first tried to buy Tottenham Hotspur FC in 1998 from Alan Sugar but he wasn’t successful.
His second attempt was in July 2000, but this was also unsuccessful.
However, the businessman knew that with a bit more time he could get his hands on his boyhood club as he was well aware that not only was there an increased hostility towards Sugar by the fans, but the current owner's business, AMSTRAD, was also struggling financially.
His strategy paid off as a begrudging Alan Sugar, who was also a big Spurs fan, agreed to sell his interest.
In December 2000, Levy was appointed to Tottenham Hotspur’s board when ENIC bought 27% of the club off Alan Sugar for almost £22million.
This meant that ENIC had a total stake of 29.9%, which was the maximum share they were allowed before they were forced to bid for the whole company.
Levy, therefore, replaced Alan Sugar as Tottenham’s chairman from February 2001, when the sale was completed. He began taking control over the club’s day-to-day activities in October of the same year.
Sugar still remains in close contact with the club and Levy to this day as he regularly contacts him via Whatsapp messenger.
ENIC eventually increased their stake and took control of the whole company.
They bought Sugar’s remaining 12% of shares for $25 million in 2007. This meant that ENIC had then acquired 85.55% of Spurs.
In 2012, the club moved into private ownership.
In 2016-2017, Levy became the highest-paid chief executive in the Premier League, having an annual remuneration of more than $8 million for that season.
Managing Expectations At Tottenham
The Cambridge graduate has appointed many managers and coaches since he became involved in Tottenham Hotspur FC.
The first manager he appointed was former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle in 2001.
However, Hoddle didn’t last long and was sacked in September 2003 after a poor start to the season.
Hoddle was followed by former France manager Jacques Santini and then Martin Jol in quick succession.
After spending a majority of his working life in business, Levy had developed a ruthless streak that demanded results from his ventures. He took the same attitude to his position at Tottenham and has regularly dismissed managers throughout his tenure.
The club spent millions on new players to improve the squad but it wouldn't be until 2008 where they finally saw their first and only trophy under Levy.
Coach Juande Ramos guided the team to the League Cup with a 2-1 win over London rivals Chelsea.
Emphasising that there was no sentiment with Levy despite this success, shortly after the historic win the Chairman decided to replace Ramos with Harry Redknapp after Ramos made a poor start to the 2008/09 season.
Under Redknapp, Spurs finished in the top four for the 2009-2010 season, which meant they qualified for the UEFA Champions League – a first for the side.
Reaching the Champions League was a massive step in the development of the club given that it is a hugely lucrative competition. It is the most watched club football tournament in the world and the revenue a club receives can secure its financial future for many years to come.
Spurs reached the knock-out stages, ultimately losing to 13 times winners, Real Madrid.
The club was unable to reach the UEFA Champions League in 2010-2011 as they finished in fifth place in the Premier League. However, this meant they were able to join the Europa League.
After selling their star player, Gareth Bale, to Real Madrid in 2013, Levy received praise for negotiating a world record transfer fee of £85.3million.
He became known for his tough negotiation stances when it came to selling his players.
However, after investing the transfer fee money back into the club a number of signings were deemed to have been failures and Levy was said to have paid too much for them with the possible exception of Christian Eriksen.
Between July 2012 and the present, Levy has appointed seven different coaches and managers, including former Champions League winning manager José Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
Arguably his most succesful appointment in recent years was former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino who managed to take the club to finishing 2nd in the Premier League (their highest ever finish) and to the Champions League final.
Running Tottenham Hotspur FC
Levy is known to run a modest wage structure compared to other big clubs in the Premier League.
The astute businessman believes that other clubs have unsustainable spending models which will make them financial unviable in the long term.
This is one of the reasons that in the 2017-2018 season, Tottenham saw a $151 million profit, which was a football club world record.
When Levy and ENIC first tried to buy a stake in the club in 1998, it was valued at $107 million. Nowadays, the predicted valuation is around $2.4 billion.
Criticisms
Levy is known to be a tough negotiator when it comes to player transfers.
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has even described negotiating with him as “more painful than my hip replacement.”
Both pundits and Tottenham supporters have criticised Levy for not investing more in the transfer market.
His net spend on transfers is considerably lower than other clubs.
In 2018, he didn’t even sign any new players during the summer transfer window, making Spurs the first Premier League club to do so.
Tottenham’s Club Debt
Despite being somewhat tight when it comes to finances, the club’s new stadium, which opened in 2019, is said to be largely responsible for a $1.58 billion debt, the biggest of all clubs in Europe.
The cost of the new stadium is one of the reasons why Spurs couldn't invest heavily in the transfer market for new players over recent years.
Levy’s Achievements
Aside from being a successful businessman, Daniel Levy was named CEO of the Year at the Football Business Awards.
He is also involved in advocating for issues in the Premier League.
For example, he was responsible for the successful lobbying to change the rules on how many substitutions are permitted.
Levy’s Family Life
Daniel Levy is married to Tracy Dixon, a former PA. Together the pair have four children: Joshua, Oliver, Chloe, and Gabriella.
Levy is somewhat of a closed book, especially when it comes to the press and prefers to keep his family life extremely private.
According to former Barcelona manager and Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal, he hid in a car boot to leave his home when they were holding talks about the job at Spurs in 2014.
It is reported that Levy has a holiday home in Boca Raton, Florida.
Daniel Levy Quotes
“Best negotiator? I think that’s just false. There’s no such thing.” – Daniel Levy
“You can be good, fair hard. I don’t think anyone can define themselves as the best. I can’t help what other people say, but all I am doing is trying to become a bigger club and I am just protecting my assets.” – Daniel Levy
“Daniel is one of the most demanding clients I have ever had. Certainly, he is a perfectionist, and it was a challenge trying to get perfection. I quickly stopped travelling with him because he never sleeps" – Chris Lee, architect of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
“I am never going to talk about any specific player in public. All I will say is his frustrations in not winning are shared by me and all the fans and players. We all want to win.” – Daniel Levy
“Our duty is to protect the club even though we want to win. We will spend but we are a self-sustaining club, we have to be sensible.” – Daniel Levy
Summary: Daniel Levy Net Worth 2021
- Daniel Levy Net Worth is $1.3 billion.
- He was born to Jewish parents in Essex.
- His father ran a retail business.
- Daniel Levy studied Economics and Land Economy at the University of Cambridge. He graduated with first-class honours.
- After graduation, he worked in the family retail business.
- In the 1990s, Levy got involved with ENIC and became director of the Scottish side, Rangers.
- He attempted to buy Tottenham Hotspur off Alan Sugar twice in the late 1990s and early 2000, but Sugar turned him down.
- At the end of 2000, Sugar was persuaded to sell to ENIC.
- From February 2001, Daniel Levy became chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC, a role he continues to have to this day.
- Daniel Levy is known for being a tough negotiator.
- He is very quiet about his private life but is known to be married to Tracy Dixon, a former PA. Together they have four children.
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